About me
I am a fully qualified counsellor/psychotherapist and a registered member of the BACP (the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy). I am also a fully trained hypnotherapist and registered member of the NCH (National Council for Hypnotherapy). I have many years of experience in providing pastoral care and I have worked with people from a wide variety of social and cultural backgrounds, men and women, young, middle aged and those who are older. I provide face to face counselling services in Chatteris in Cambridgeshire and online via Zoom.
Why counselling?
People come to counselling for all sorts of reasons, perhaps there is something that you need to talk over in a confidential, non-judgemental, supportive setting, perhaps a recent event has disturbed you, there may have been a loss of some kind or perhaps you feel that there is more deep seated issue that you would like to explore.
How does counselling help?
Counselling and psychotherapy can help you explore and understand your feelings and make sense of what is happening to you. Sometimes gaining this sense of clarity is enough.
If you have lost someone or some important part of your life it will be important to explore and express your feelings of loss so that the work of mourning can begin and eventually you can move on.
Sometimes people find themselves repeating the same distressing pattern of behaviour but are unable to change. The cause of this often lies in the past. Working together we can develop an understanding of the repeated behaviours and build a foundation for change. To do this involves talking about difficult, painful feelings and initially, you may feel worse in some ways, before you start to feel better.
All of this work leads to a fuller more integrated sense of self, to greatly reduced distress and a greater sense of being able to cope.
What I provide
I provide both short-term counselling, longer term psychotherapy and where it might help and with your consent hypnotherapy. Sessions are supportive, non-judgemental and confidential. They last for 60 minutes and are usually weekly, usually at the same time. There is off-road parking and wheelchair access.
What to expect
I provide a free 30 minute telephone consultation in which we can explore your concerns and determine if we can work well together. If we decide to go ahead the first session will focus on exploring your needs, the type of therapy and its likely duration.
Training, qualifications & experience
My qualifications and training
- University Diploma in Counselling
- BSc (Hons.) Psychology
- MA Psychotherapy, Diploma in Cognitive Hypnotherapy
- HPD
- NLP Certified Practitioner
(I also have an MSc Computer Science)
I am a registered member of the BACP and the NCH.
I also have training in Solution Focused Brief Therapy, Transactional Analysis, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Life Story Work in Dementia and Motivational Interviewing from the Hertfordshire Recovery and Integration, Training and Education service.
Mindfulness and Meditation Training:
- Mindfulness Behavioural Cognitive Therapy (6 weeks, provided by The Mindfulness Project).
- Buddhism and Modern Psychology (8 weeks, taught by Robert Wright, Princeton University).
My experience
I have experience working with a variety of issues including: anxiety, depression, ageing and ill-health, Boarding School Syndrome, loss of purpose, loss and bereavement, relationship and infidelity, disability, carer's issues, confidence and self esteem, masculinity and men’s issues, identity and meaning.
In addition to my private practice I have worked as a counsellor/psychotherapist for Inclusion - the addiction agency, Lifecraft -a mental health agency and MIND in Mid-Herts.
Member organisations
BACP is one of the UK’s leading professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy with around 60,000 members. The Association has several different categories of membership, including Student Member, Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP, Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Accred) and Senior Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Snr Acccred). Registered and accredited members are listed on the BACP Register, which shows that they have demonstrated BACP’s recommended standards for training, proficiency and ethical practice. The BACP Register was the first register of psychological therapists to be accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). Accredited and senior accredited membership are voluntary categories for members who choose to undertake a rigorous application and assessment process to demonstrate additional standards around practice, training and supervision. Individual members will have completed an appropriate counselling or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but they won’t appear on the BACP Register until they've demonstrated that they meet the standards for registration. Student members are still in the process of completing their training. All members are bound by the BACP Ethical Framework and a Professional Conduct Procedure.
Accredited register membership
The Accredited Register Scheme was set up in 2013 by the Department of Health (DoH) as a way to recognise organisations that hold voluntary registers which meet certain standards. These standards are set by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
This therapist has indicated that they belong to an Accredited Register.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Other areas of counselling I deal with
Boarding School Syndrome, anxiety, relationship issues, generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder, addiction(s), depression, family issues, phobias, affairs and betrayals, bipolar disorder/manic depression, separation and divorce, postnatal depression, cross cultural relationships, abuse, bereavement, anger management, personality disorders, alcoholism, attachment disorder, emotional abuse, gambling, abortion, drug abuse, binge-eating disorder, low self esteem, Asperger's syndrome, internet addiction, physical abuse, low self-confidence, stress
Therapies offered
Fees
£60.00 per session
Additional information
Sessions are £60 for a 60-minute session. I also provide a free 30 minute exploratory session via Zoom
